Three-quarters of Toronto residents believe Rob Ford should either resign or step aside to seek treatment, a new poll from Ipsos Reid suggests.

The poll was conducted between Nov. 8 and 12 — beginning three days after the mayor’s stunning admission that he had, in fact, smoked crack cocaine, despite vehemently denying drug allegations for six months.

Of those surveyed, just 24 per cent believe Ford should remain in office and “not repeat any previous behaviour, get back to work because he loves his job and wants to fight for taxpayers,” as the mayor has vowed to do.

Despite the high proportion of Torontonians who believe Ford is taking the wrong course of action, the mayor’s approval rating has fallen but not dropped off completely. The Ipsos survey revealed 40 per cent of residents still “approve” of Ford’s performance, down from 49 per cent in June of 2012, and 62 per cent in September of 2011.

The Toronto Star first reported about the mayor’s battle with alcohol in March 2013. The Star — along with the American gossip website Gawker — revealed two of its reporters had viewed a video of the mayor smoking what looked like crack cocaine on May 16.

The mayor enjoys the most support in the inner suburbs, with nearly half of Scarborough residents approving of the job he’s done, 45 per cent in Etobicoke and 43 per cent in North York. Only 29 per cent of the old City of Toronto approves of Ford’s leadership, which is comparable to his 32 per cent support in York/East York.

Men (44 per cent) are more likely than women (36 per cent) to approve of the mayor’s performance, as are those over the age of 55 (43 per cent), compared with those aged 18 to 34 (41 per cent) and 35-54 (37 per cent).

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who proposed the motion, had originally planned an amendment to ask the province to step in, but dropped that idea amid statements from Premier Kathleen Wynne and others that they would not do so. In the poll, 65 per cent of respondents said they didn’t think Wynne should intervene.

Just under half of those polled — 46 per cent — believe “the media should back off and give Rob Ford some time to show that he has changed his ways.”

The poll was conducted on behalf of CTV News/CP24/CFRB Newstalk 1010 Radio. A total of 665 Toronto residents were interviewed through an online panel. The poll is considered accurate to within plus or minus 4.3 per cent.

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